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War declared on
us, says Ogiek
by John Kamau, Rights Features Service
(January
26, 2001) The Ogiek Welfare Council today accused the government
of "declaring war" on the Kenyan indigenous group and announced
that there will be a community prayer meeting on February 24,
2001 at Marioshoni, East Mau Forest.
In a letter
addressed to the Kenya-based Rights Features Service, the community
demanded the release of an Ogiek youth charged
with a capital offense for allegedly being party to a group
that seized
survey equipment.
"The truth
of the matter is that the government has declared war on Ogiek
people and their Mau Forest. The arrest of Dominic Maritim Monoso
(earlier mistakenly identified as Dominic Kiptoo Monoso) and those
still being hunted by the authorities are part of the already
staged war," said Ogiek Welfare Council leader Joseph Toweet.
The Ogiek
spokesman accused the government of harassing members of the Ogiek
community by charging them with "framed and fabricated" charges.
Monoso was arrested after Ogiek youth seized survey equipment
from government officials last week. In retaliation, the government
has deployed armed police to guard the surveyors who are demarcating
the land.
"We demand
a full hearing to be done on how and what the surveyors were doing
in Kiptunga in East Mau Forest on the fateful day of the clashes
which led to his subsequent arrest and also the reasons as to
why it took the authorities such a long time to charge him in
court," said Toweet.
He said the
case "will open fresh events" but said that the Ogiek "expect
very little justice from our courts should it uphold the wrong
doings."
Though a
court order has stopped any demarcation of the land, the surveyors
are still on the ground under armed protection.
"The government
through its agent, the surveyors for that matter, has secretly
been surveying the land in dispute for the last three years in
total violation of a court order," said Toweet in the letter,
also addressed to two Nairobi-based lobby groups, People Against
Torture (PAT), and Release Political Prisoners (RPP) lobby groups.
He said that
the charges on Monoso are "a government ploy to criminalize the
affairs of the Ogiek community."
He accused
the local courts of being insensitive to the Ogiek and of assisting
the police. " At other times our people have been denied bail
and even remanded for a long time before the application for bail
is considered," said Toweet.
He accused
the government of trying to legalize the settlement of other communities
in Mau Forest by degazetting the area as a forest reserve.
He said that
the Ogiek are now caught between powerful forces "jockeying for
power, political supremacy, and control over natural resources."
A degazettement
of Mau Forest as a forest will throw open not only the settlement
exercise of other communities but also the final onslaught on
its wood wealth because it will not be protected by Kenya's Forest
Act.
There is
fear that if the pending Forest Bill 2000, which is strict on
forest conservation and the role of communities, is brought to
Parliament before the degazzetment, it may deny the minister the
power to degazette Mau Forest.
With the
general election coming close in 2002, powerful interests want
to settle new people in the constituency hoping that they will
gain during the voting. The only "available" land is at Mau Forest,
home of the Ogiek.
"This has
caused the powerful people with permanent interests on our ancestral
land [to] go full blast and have the settlement exercise going
on by using the state machinery at their disposal," said Toweet.
Once again,
the Ogiek Welfare Council urged the international community to
intervene.
"Our vision
is for a just and equitable society where human rights are respected
and dignity observed," said the statement.
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